Insurance Audit At Work

My company is performing an insurance audit this year, which I think is a fantastic idea. The company has hired a third-party audit firm to verify all all dependents qualify for benefits under my firms’ policies. As an employee I will be responsible for filling out some paperwork and providing verification documents, including a copy of my marriage license. The process will hopefully be painless, but I think it will help reign people who aren’t playing by the rules. My Retirement Blog recently posted a great summary of who can be included as a dependent.

I know some folks will grumble about this added work, but as someone who typically follows the rules I think it’s a great idea. There are probably dozens, if not hundreds of people in my (huge) company that are insuring people that shouldn’t be covered. Divorced spouses and children that are over the age of 18 are probably the most frequent offenders.

And it’s not like these people were really trying to break the rules. How hard do you really review your insurance each year? Insuring your divorced spouse may be a little sketchy, but I can see how some people might have kids that cross over the age limit without being noticed.

The only thing I don’t understand is what will happen after this year. Will they do an audit each year, or was this a one-time thing? How will a one-time audit ensure that children 18 year olds drop off of insurance at the right time?

This audit should save the company some money eventually because studies show that dependents typically have higher healthcare costs than the employees themselves do.

I was also blessed this year when I found out my company decided to charge differently for children, dependents, and employees. That way I’m not as saddled with the health care costs of dependents while I’m married without kids. They also charge higher rates for smokers, which I think is also fair (and they offer several cessation options as well).

All is all I think this is a good move, and I think it’s well worth a little time spent filling out paperwork.

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